6 Weeks Old...

I finally believe that it will get better... or if anything, we are learning to deal with it better. Things are definitely better than week 1! :)

His wind is getting better... the infacol is helping. He doesnt arch his back and cry as much post-feed. The infacol took him from 1 poop a day to 4 a day. Then he went 2 days without a poop - which made him very uncomfortable, but he seems to be back on track now.

Does every baby wake crying for their feeds? He screams as if we have been starving him for months! I dont think he has every woken up and just lied calmly in his cradle.

I'm a very light sleeper, and I used to always wake at the very first sound he made back in those days, so I fed him with no probs. He always used to stirr a bit and then get vocal if I was taking my sweet time. A couple of times I didn't wake up when he first started to wake up for a feed, and he was screaming the house down.

Its a fine line, because sometimes he is stirring and isnt necessarily ready for a feed... it's all trial and error, this is what DH and I keep telling ourselves.

It is Connie, and remember we're doing everything we can to keep those little people happy! I remember in my baby buddy group, one of the girls there who already has a toddler kept telling me to keep my chin up as it DOES get better. I found it really hard to believe it back then, but now I look back and realise how true her words of wisdom were. Thanks 'b'!!!! Keep your chin up hun, even at 6 months I think my DS has grown so much since that stressful beginning......they really do grow so quickly!

hi connie, my DS always woke up screaming for a feed - he'd be crying before he even woke up :lol: it's only in the last couple of months that he doesn't wake up from every sleep crying - now sometimes he wakes up & just chats for a while. but overnight it's still always a cry.

yeah we also have a sleeping howler lol! it's like she is saying...'oi where'd that boob go?!' :rofl:

one thing that we learnt along the way with DD1 was that bubbas shift it up alot and will have a few nights of doing crazy things then usually settle back into their 'normal' pattern for a week or so then shift it up temporarily again. my mantra during these times for DH and I is: persistency and consistency. that is, keep at what you would normally do (ie feed, cuddle, nappy change, feed sleep etc etc). just keep truckin' lol. babies change it up all the time, but as long as you and DH are their 'rock' and their place of consistent love and reassurance then it will fall into place sooner or later, i promise xx

i reckon what beata said about the stages is so true as well. 12 weeks might seem like a looong way a way but it comes around and you WILL notice a big improvement in terms of bubbas predictable pattern...well, that has been my experience anyway!

big hug to all of us with young babies at the moment...boy it comes with some *interesting* nights lol! :grouphug:

I keep telling DH "Short term pain, for long term gain!!"

Last night we started a Tizzie Hall routine... he slept from 2:30am - 7am. Fingers crossed we have some more nights like that!

Good Luck to all of us out there! :)

Yet another crap night last night, but I think it stemmed from being at someone elses house full of people when it was time for his feed and bedtime. He slept in the car, then we got him out of the car at 9pm. He stayed awake and cried from 9pm - 1:30am! Even the feed in between that time didnt calm him down.

And yet this morning, he fed, sat in the rocker for a bit, then I put him in his cradle wide awake. He lied in there looking around for 20 minutes and then went off to sleep. At night, the minute I put him in his cradle, he goes crazy!

This kid is a mystery to me.

Ha ha Connie, they ARE a mystery!!!!! Funny little buggers to work out! I often say to my partner, are you sure there is no manual???? lol. Sometimes it does my head in trying to work out what he wants. You know the time when ther are fed, with a clean nappy, rested and still whingeing?????? What the????

I know that when we're at someone else's house, DS gets very overstimulated and sometimes it's hard for him to calm down back at the ranch. I usually have to spend a lot more quiet time with him before he drifts off for the night. Just remember you are doing a fantastic job hun, no one else can do it better!

hi Connie, they are crazy little things arnt they, we are going through the same here at the moment and im just about to head off to the Dr, i only got two hrs sleep last night and be that on the sofa!

i hope things start to improve for you again soon, i was feeling like i was the only one.

you do sound very confident with your techniques and they have worked at times so give yourself a big clap, i will look forward to gearing more tips

we also had a shocker last night! i *think* she has a bit of a cold...ahhh the joys of having a toddler at home as well lol. so Marta was really unsettled ALLLLLLL night. thankfully at the 5am feed she settled enough to only need one bit of rocking around 7am then we slept until about 9am. but oh what a night. she was literally crying every few minutes. poor wee poppet. i am smashed today.

Loula, I'm glad I sound confident because I have no idea what I am doing! Haha

I guess it's just frustrating because if he is sleeping on one of us, he can sleep for hours without stiring, he even goes past his feeding times. So far tonight has been another shocker... It's getting so tough.

We also found out today he has a hernia and will need surgery next week.

Cassius, I hope your night is going better than ours. I am considering calling a sleeping school tomorrow.

Last night heonly slept 2hours at a time...

7 -9pm
12 -2am
4 - 6am

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Hugs hun. Its heartbreaking when you think you have finally made progress!

we had a good night which i was not expecting. my oly trouble is that he falls asleep on me and on me only! still we got from 9.30pm to 4.30am (with a quick feed and bed at midnight) and so far he is asleep now, oops waking now.

i started a new herbal med for his wind last night and will continue with it today


better goooooooo..........

sorry to hear about the hernia, my nephew had that too and was an unsettled baby, i dont know if it was due to the hernia. Its a very common op these days but non the less still a worry for you, i hope he will be ok x

Hey Connie,

Just wanted to tell you that a good friend of mine took her little DD to sleep school (the Koo Wee Rup one) and she said it was a blessing and the best think she's done as now her DD is in such a good routine sleeping like a trooper (was a very bad sleeper, but then again, aren't most of them like that at 5 weeks old??). I'm sorry to hear that your DS has hernia, it could very well explain the unsettled periods and definitely lots of crying. Poor wee mite. Big hugs to all.

B xx

Loula, 9:30 - 4:30 is FANTASTIC - what a good boy!!

I asked the paed if the hernia was causing him discomfort (hoping to find a reason for being unsettled), but nope! The paed didnt seem to make a big deal about the operation, so I guess thats a good thing :)

As usual... he is an angel in the day. Took 35 mins to self settle for his 1st nap (with no crying), and 5 minutes to settle for his second. For the first time I have been able to keep him awake for a play after his feeds today. Fingers crossed that helps the night.

Hope you're all having a good day!

Well it's good to know that the hernia is not causing him any pain.

Have you tried going for a walk before bed or a bath?

We are also using a new herbs colic mixture

Hi Connie how have things been hope your little fella is feeling better? And you are getting done rest?

just wanted to add my 2 cents worth. firstly, congratulation on you little boy!!!

I remember those first few weeks with DD, she wouldnt sleep unless i was right there, i had her in a sling and would just walk around the park for hours while she slept, i swear i lost kgs too :) but sometimes when that wouldnt work she would just cry and cry, a few times i would just hold her and cry too!!!
The most important thing to remember is that things change so quickly in the first few months! you have had great advice here! hugs to you. xx

Thanks Bec, I cried along with him the other night as well. It just got too much, and I figured if he gets to cry so do I!

Loula we've had a couple of better nights. But he projectile vomited twice the other day so I dont know what thats all about. How's the natural remedy going?

He is sleeping a bit better in the night now (well for the last 2 days anyway), waking up about 15-30mins before he is due for a feed. But between 7-9pm, he is not interested in sleep, he is always wide awake, crying and totally overstimulated. He also likes to wake at 6am... he's lucky I enjoy watching Sunrise from 6am. Lol

I think due to his prematurity, we have just had to endure a little longer of the newborn stage which has been tough. He is now 8 weeks old, adjusted age 1 week. A friend of ours whose son is 1 week older met him this week and said 'Wow, he's still got that newborn cry'. Her son was also more alert and was more keen to just lie awake without crying, because he was just happy to play with his hands etc. That made me realise that his prematurity is actually a factor. Because he has been growing so well and is such a big boy, I had kind of started to forget about his prematurity.

How are we going ladies?

G had his hernia operation on Friday, which resulted in me have a completely sleepless night at the hospital.
After the disruption, we are back onto teaching him to self-settle, but haven't been quite as patient because we are so exhausted.

We feel a bit ripped off because we have had to endure the 'newborn' phase for longer because he was prem. Our friends' babies who were born around the same time are more responsive, giggling and sleeping better :(

Hugs Hun. I hope all went well with the op? You will settle back soon. I would love a few more weeks of NB. DS is growing too fast. But totally understand that it is very hard work. Have you got family close??

Sleep is getting better here. I had one night where DS would not settle and gave him EBM he then slept for 5 hrs. I've started putting him in his cot and he loves it. Will sleep over 5 hrs at least. But I hate the thought of not co sleeping. So he is just in the cot in the day. Although we are out and about during the day alot so routine doesn't really happen. We have had a very good week of night sleeps but I think we are in for a shocker tonight as he is only just stirring from when I put him down at 6 ish.

Remember sleep promotes sleep lol

ohh i never thought about the adjusted age thingy...i guess that it would be a factor to a point. but i guess as long as you just keep on truckin' and go with what you have been doing, it will all pan out just right in the end.

for us things are still pretty hit and miss. although there have been (knock on wood) more hits than misses. at least i am seeing some pattern at night time. we have to put her down pretty early (6ish) and she will wake around midnight then mid early morning (say 3-4am), then back down until 7amish. but if we miss the boat in terms of tired signs by even a few minutes it's all on for young and old :rofl: so i guess it's proof that she is still a very little baby and still needs her world to be sheltered from the scary new lol. (like last night we had a big neighbourhood fish and chips party at our house and i was having too much fun and missed her tired signs and before i knew it she was wired to the max, so didnt get down for a deep sleep until 9pm...

one thing that keeps me going is the thought that when they do have a good day/night, that it offers hope for the future. while they are still so young, things chop and change dramatically, but those good days/nights are for me a beacon of hope that it will sort itself out in the coming future!! :dance:

I am so jealous of you guys!!

George seems to have gone backwards in terms of sleep - I have a feeling that while he was premature he was better, now that he is past his due date, he wont sleep for more than an hour and a half at a time. People say to co-sleep if that makes it easier, well it doesn't. Last night I tried it, and he just screamed in my face instead of from the other room.

Tonight he is going back into his cradle... should be hell!

The good nights give me hope too, but we havent had one for a while, so it's tough to be positive. We have now had almost 6 weeks of this with no improvement and no interaction with him :( Maybe thats what makes it even harder, he has only just started staying awake for small bursts during the day (unless he's crying of course).

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Hugs hun, our little man usually wont sleep during the day for longer than 30min power nap, its frustrating.

it's all a learning curve, i hope tonight is a good night for you, any family arpund to offer that extra support so you can get a few zzzzzzzz?

how about taking him for a walk before bed? or give him a bath?

Just in case anyone ever looks back on this...

We ended up working out that George was suffering from silent reflux. The poor little guy was in pain. The paed put him straight on Zantac and the improvement was immediate. It made feeds better, and helped sleep. Granted, it didn't make him sleep through the night or anything, but he became less restless.

Now looking back, I have realised... all the crying and wanting to sleep on us, was simply because for half of the time he wasnt even meant to be born yet, and he was just a tiny bubba!

He is now 5 months old, eating solids, off the reflux medication, and has been sleeping from 7pm - 7am (with a dreamfeed at 10:30pm) for the last month and a half. I finally learned to understand his tired signs during the day, so he has been napping quite well aswell.

For all those new mums out there who literally feel like they may die for exhaustion... people tell you over and over that things will get better, but this is just an example of what we went through, and how it really did get better. Reading over this now, I realise how utterly freaked out, tired and desperate I was. WE ALL ARE!!

Great news thanks for the update and so pleased your son must be feeling better x


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Ah that's lovely to hear :)